Indonesia, Southeast Asia -- the next front in the war on terrorism maybe the most difficult ... and explosive.
Long before September 11, 2001, terrorism's global elite was already zeroing in on Indonesia -- the world's most populous Islamic nation, and its largest archipelago, where dense jungles and intricate, unpatrolled coastlines conceal almost endless hiding places. Acclaimed journalist and filmmaker Tracy Dahlby takes us into this dangerous terrain, both before and after 9/11, interweaving the divergent perspectives of Koran-thumping preachers, hardened holy warriors, military commandos, and embattled Muslim moderates, in a first-rate reporting adventure that sheds new light on the epidemic chaos now threatening our international community.
By turns harrowing, thought-provoking, and humorous, Allah's Torch charts a fascinating course through a sprawling land unknown to most Americans where the home-bred Jemaah Islamiyah, Asia's answer to Al Qaeda, pursues its deadly ambition of pressing all of Southeast Asia under the yoke of a pure Islamic super-state.
With the trained observer's eye for detail and veteran newsman's sense of the story hidden behind the headlines, Dahlby gives readers a highly personal tour of the militant Jakarta slums, terrorist-traumatized Bali, and the Islamic heartland on the island of Java, where the outcome of a struggle now raging between moderate Muslims and their extremist brethren for the country's Islamic soul promises to have far-reaching effects on the lives of ordinary Americans. In so doing, Dahlby maps out the chilling realities of what radical Islam has planned for us as our worlds inevitably collide -- and offers some surprising conclusions about how America's leaders -- and its citizens -- can best defend our country against Asia's new Osama bin Ladens.
Dahlby's tendency to spend as much time highlighting the lighter hearted side of Indonesia as he does the more sinister people and events is seen as a weakness by some reviewers. However, for the great majority of us who have little knowledge of the current political and religious situation in Indonesia (and, if we're honest, would probably have been hard pressed to find it on a map until the Tsunami hit in December 2004), the combination of travelogue and political journalism is both relevant and interesting. (Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Newsweek - International Edition
Thoughtful and engaging. Dahlby combines the sharp sensitivities of a political observer with an old-fashioned flair for storytelling.
Kirkus Reviews
Regrettably, most of Dahlby's narrative takes the form of a sometimes cute, sometimes merely self-indulgent travelogue full of set pieces-guerrillas out of Terry and the Pirates, strange food, mysterious rajahs, and so forth--that is at odds with and ultimately undermines the dire import of Dahlby's findings on the ground. Useful, but trying of the patience.
Publishers Weekly
While he gives short history lessons and cuts to larger current political debates during his journeys, Dahlby stays closer to his own feelings and the logistics of his trips than many readers will want: his style is sometimes positively chatty; he draws on his own politics freely in interpreting his experiences. Yet the writing has a strong visual quality and vividly drawn players given the desperate shortage of popular material on Indonesia, this title helps fill the information gap.
Jakarta Post
A portrait of a religion under change, which can be as thoughtful and as insightful as it is sometimes irreverent.
BookBrowse - Davina
I agree with Kirkus to the extent that Dahlby's writing style is chirpy, and that he spends as much time highlighting the lighter hearted side of Indonesia and its people as he does the more sinister people and events. However, I don't agree that this is necessarily a weakness -- I imagine that if one was already familiar with the politics of the area (which I suspect the reviewers for PW and Kirkus are) it could be seen as 'trying of the patience'. However, for the great majority of us who have little knowledge of the current political and religious situation in Indonesia (and, if we're honest, would probably have been hard pressed to find it on a map until the Tsunami hit the northern corner of it in December) the combination of travelogue and political journalism is both relevant and interesting, as it explains the current situation in Indonesia whilst putting a human face on the people. For those who do want to explore the historical and cultural background further, Dahlby provides just the right number of footnotes referencing additional resources - some of which are available online.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Samuli A layman's journey into... well, Indonesia Allah's Torch makes for a pleasant, leisurely reading but is seriously undermined by the numerous, glaring factual errors (many of which concern Dahlby's interpretation of the history of Banda islands, for example: Benteng Revenge was not built by... Read More
Tracy Dahlby
is a former managing editor of Newsweek
International and an expert in the affairs of Asia, where
he lived for thirteen years, serving as Tokyo bureau chief for
the Washington Post and Newsweek. He is also a regular
contributor to National Geographic
magazine.
According to
Dahlby: In 2000, 75% of Indonesians surveyed in a major
poll expressed positive feelings toward the US. Three years
later, the figure stood at 15%. The causes for
this extraordinary swing are believed to be: perceived
American arrogance toward Muslims after 9/11, the invasion of
Iraq, and the sudden rise of a powerful Islamist movement in
Indonesia that proposes turning secular Indonesia into a
fundamentalist theocracy.
The story of the Iran hostage crisis, America’s first battle with militant Islam.
These are 2 of the 7 readalike suggestions for Allah's Torch. Members have full access to all readalikes. If you are a member, please login. To find out more about membership, click here.
A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Stranger than fiction, blending tragedy and farce, How to Create the Perfect Wife is an engrossing tale of the radicalism, and deep contradictions, at the heart of the Enlightenment.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
read more
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
read more
Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
read more
U.S. ebook sales up in 2012, but rate of growth is slowing(May 16 2013) In 2012, trade book sales (i.e. non academic book sales) rose 6.9%, to $15.049 billion, and e-book sales continued to grow, although the rate of growth...
Full Story
BookBrowse
(623 words).
of 5
by Samuli
Write your own review!
